A common network of functional areas for attention and eye movements.

Department of Neurology, McDonnell Center for Higher Brain Functions, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. mau@npg.wustl.edu

2

Washington U, St Louis, MO

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and surface-based representations of brain activity were used to compare the functional anatomy of two tasks, one involving covert shifts of attention to peripheral visual stimuli, the other involving both attentional and saccadic shifts to the same stimuli. Overlapping regional networks in parietal, frontal, and temporal lobes were active in both tasks. This anatomical overlap is consistent with the hypothesis that attentional and oculomotor processes are tightly integrated at the neural level.